A Table in Paradise

If you have ever visited the Knysna Friday Market you will no doubt have sampled the wonderful food from the KKB stall at some point. Its an ever-popular stand – an institution at the market you might even say. The husband and wife team behind this successful enterprise also run a weekly dinner – part cooking demonstration (complete with a number of jokes) and part fine dining. Its not to be missed.

The eatery is called Kilzner’s Kitchen, and it sits up on the hill in Paradise Heights above Knysna. Here Jenny and Albin run what they call a “Cook n Look” once a week on a Wednesday, the other days they do cookery lessons and of course on a Friday they are busy at the market.

Well I was lucky enough to be invited to join a group of ladies that had managed to secure a table after someone else had cancelled. I was very excited as I had heard how hard it is to get a booking – normally you have to wait weeks and weeks for your turn.

The restaurant and demo kitchen are attached to the Guadeloupe Self Catering apartments at the same location. The dining room spills out onto a lovely large enclosed deck area – and being on the top of the hill the views are lovely. The tables were beautifully set, and the waiters were quick to whip out some champagne glasses for the girls in our party drinking bubbly (its a BYO venue).

To start we were all offered a small shot of home-made Limoncello – I think it would have been lovely and refreshing on a very hot and humid evening, but I can’t really be sure as I managed to knock mine over, so only had a tiny taste of what had spilt on my fingers. We also were served a small portion of home-made game carpaccio and smoked chicken as an amuse-bouche to keep the hunger pangs at bay. We were then invited to move into the main kitchen area for an explanation about the food we were going to be enjoying that evening.

Jenny told a few jokes to break the ice and then explained we would be having a lovely snapper starter (I did’t get a pic of this course sorry). Albin was in charge of the main and told us all about the roast steak he was making for mains, and then we were further tantalised by the idea of some special chocolate that had gone into the flourless chocolate roulade dessert (the chocolate was a gift from one of the regular Belgium guests). Without further ado we took our seats and enjoyed the lovely meal. Suffice it to say I was “proppies*” when I left there.

In winter they host a looooong table where they serve their market fare in front of the fire place. You take your own wine and find a seat (or grab a take-away instead if you prefer) and enjoy a rather festive sounding event. First come first served.

Kilzer’s Kitchen
Location: 3-5 Roos Bolton Crescent, Knysna
Timing: Wednesday Evening (booking essential in Summer)
Contact: kilzerskitchen.co.za or +27 (044) 382.0135

Actually it was a pretty busy food week that week in Jan – the last week of the Christmas holidays really. The night before I had met some lovely old friends for dinner at Emily Moon in Plett, we were invited to join them after a chance encounter the day before. We had rendevous-ed with my Uncle and Aunt – who made the long trip from PE to see my Dad who was visiting us at the time – at Enrico’s in Plett for lunch on the Monday and run into them there. Sadly Stu was in JHB that evening so I went alone but it was lovely to catch up over some really stunning food.

Emily Moon River Lodge
Location: Rietvlei Rd, Plettenberg Bay
Contact: www.emilymoon.co.za or +27 (044) 501.2500

Wow my tummy is rumbling now!

Chat soon.

* a diminutive of the Afrikaans word propvol which loosely translates to “totally full up”

*featured image: Kilzer’s Kitchen